Yuwa Japanese Cuisine — Restaurant in Vancouver

Did you ever go for dinner somewhere and receive a completely different experience on separate occasions? That’s how I felt about Yuwa Japanese Cuisine. This place had been on my wish list for a long time but because they only open for dinner service and it being located so far away, it was only until recently that I finally managed to come visit.

Yuwa is more on the upscale scene when compared to other Japanese restaurants which is reflected in both the price and the offerings they have on their menu. On my first visit, I sat at the sushi bar and ordered the Assorted Seasonal Tempura ($15) which is actually a fairly reasonable price. The tempura is served with both a sweet dashi broth and a salty/savory matcha salt that you can eat with your tempura. The batter is light and crisp and the veggies included were green bean, mushroom, lotus root, and some type of potato/yam/squash along with 3 pieces of plump shrimp.

I also ordered a selection of nigiri from their fresh sheet (clockwise from top left): Hon Maguro Chutoro ($8) – a medium fatty bluefin tuna, Hamachi ($7) – yellowtail, Shima Aji ($6.50) – striped jack fish or horse mackerel with a noticeably subtler flavour than I’m used to, Madai Kobujime ($5) – cured snapper with a lighter flavour, Kamasu ($5) – torched barracuda topped with yuzu, and Aburi Chutoro with Uni ($11) – seared bluefin tuna belly topped with sea urchin.

While all of the fish was quite fresh, the things that stuck to my mind was the Aburi Chutoro with Uni which tasted like biting into a little piece of heaven and the amazingly tender Kamasu. I’ve never had barracuda before but it was so tender and I think I liked this the most.

Service at the sushi counter was actually attentive and on-point and what I would expect at an establishment such as Yuwa. I enjoyed it so much, that I made a point to make reservations to revisit for my birthday dinner (this place gets fairly busy so if you want a table, it’s best to make reservations).

We decided to order a number of small plates to share. The Gomaae ($7) is a small dish of blanched green kale tossed in a sesame miso sauce and topped with walnuts, almond, and pine nuts. I know kale is the big super food right now but I kind of miss having this with spinach.

The Chef’s Sashimi Selection ($37 for 5 types) was pleasantly plated (wish they explained what type of sashimi when they brought out the dish). From what I recall, it included chutoro, hamachi, horse mackerel, hotate and then something with green onions (perhaps negitoro?). In any event, the sashimi was, as expected, quite fresh indeed.

Next was an order of the same Assorted Seasonal Tempura that I had on my first visit.

The Agedashi Tofu ($9) had lightly deep-fried tofu cubes steeped in a sweet shoyu dashi stock with grated daikon radish and topped with whispy bonito flakes that seemed to dance on top of the tofu pieces.

The Chicken Karaage ($12) is a fairly substantial plate with marinated boneless chicken thigh served with a yuzu kosho paste.

We also ordered the Sablefish Yuan-Yaki ($26) which has been marinated for 24hrs in their yuzu citrus shoyu sauce and served with kabocha squash and soy marinated cucumber pickles. I love sablefish and found this to be so tender.

The also brought us out a complimentary Matcha Creme Brulee with Red Bean for my dessert.

What I noticed from my second visit is that there was a noticeable difference in the service from my first visit at the sushi bar when compared to table service. I did notice that some diners appeared to be regulars and enjoyed a better experience (judging from their interactions with the servers) so perhaps it just depends on who you get.

The food quality (especially the seafood) is quite good but I think if I came back, I’d probably stick with eating at...

Cooked food and Japanese confectioneries was very solid. Sushi as a whole was alright but they go ham on their neta (sushi topping) varieties as you don’t see these neta (nodoguro for example, even it’s 16 bucks for a piece of nigiri sushi, I’d say it is what it is, you can’t rlly complain the price when the fish itself is expensive) around Vancouver everyday for sure. Choices of plates are also very nice (after all, you’d expect you can admire some tablewares from a restaurant at this calibre, some kutani, Imari, mino-yaki in the back of the shelf was a very nice addition to the dining room’s atmosphere.

Ordered a daily tsukemono (pickles), Nanohana/rapini ohitashi, Chiayu(Baby Sweetfish) tempura, Kakiage ten-don, A few pieces of seasonal nigiri (hirame/fluke, nodoguro/red throat sea perch, Anago/ Poached Sea Eel w/ nitsume sauce/ sweetened soy sauce, suzuki/ seabass cured in konbu kelp, saba, atsuyaki tamago, blah blah blah), Minatsuki(a type of red bean confectionery) w/ hojicha sorbet

Appetizers:

Tsukemono as a starter was nice. Featuring three kinds of Japanese housemate pickles, I didn’t catch what the server explained but I believe it is Kyuri no Shouyu Nitsuke (Cucumber Parcooked and pickled in soy sauce based vinegar), Boshi Daikon no Samu-tsuke (Dried Daikon Radish pickle), daikon no asa-tsuke (quick pickle daikon radish). The whole thing was quite refreshing.

Rapini ohitashi is very nice, somehow they got rid of the bitterness you’d expect from a rapini, I was honestly very impressed and got me sat there and thought about it for a minute or two. It was served with a Dashi based sauce (it was an ohitashi after all) and some dried Sakura ebi (judging from the colour, it seems like it’s Japanese Sakura ebi, how do I tell you may ask, Taiwanese Sakura ebi are usually more pinkish in colour vs Japanese ones are more of an orange colour tone)

Chiayu tempura might not suit everybody’s taste but I personally love the bitter sweet from the innards of the chiayu a lot, I mean a lot. It was so satisfying. A bit of sudachi citrus to cut down the heaviness of the tempura also gives you a glimpse of the other expression of the dish.

Main Course:

Can’t remember what the kakiage’s main ingredient is (scallop, squid, shrimp, either one of em) it was a bit on the oily side but again it’s satisfying when you get a bite of hot short grain Japanese rice and some agemono (deep fried food).

Sushi:

Sushi Rice: Shari/ vinegared sushi rice was on the mild side, personally I love me a shari that packs a savoury acidic punch, but hey some folks prefer milder shari.

Topping aka neta:

Atsuyaki tamago was on the airy side(again preference, I like a denser atsuyaki but you like what you like), and possibly the thiccest in Vancouver (its a atsuyaki/ thick grilled tamago afterall).

Saba was pickled nicely, well done!

Definitely tasted the savouriness and the umami from the kombu-Jime, texture ain’t too gummy too.

Additional info: Noticed chef uses Tate kaeshi form/style to form his sushi and the sous chef uses ko-te gaeshi. It prolly don’t matter too much to most folks but interesting!

Dessert: The hojicha sorbet is very light, reminds me of Japanese shaved ice. Again bitter sweet, hojicha/ roasted tea gives that deep caramelized richness and the kuromitsu (I might be tripping but I remember I tasted kuromitsu) sweetness compliments each other very well. Minatsuki is solid....

Thinning out the truth…

I have heard both the good and the bad about this place, therefore, decided to check it out myself.

This place is located on the NE corner of W.16th ave and Macdonald in Vancouver. There is free street parking available around the restaurant area. It has an outside patio setup, I assume it’s open during the warmer weather season? Inside is quite compact but enough space separation among tables to dine comfortably. The sushi bar and kitchen is located on the back center so it’s quite visible to all diners.

I do suggest a reservation is recommended during peak dining hours especially on the weekends. Here were the food I ordered;

Miso soup. Nice and hot, it was okay but pretty basic. Anago tempura. Nicely done with a light thin layer of crisp tempura batter. Wagyu striploin steak toban-yaki. The sweetness of the sauce was too much and strong, overpowering the flavour of the steak. Plus the steak had a little powdery texture when chewing it. 7 kind of sashimi selection. All the specialty fishes were fresh although the Hokkaido scallops could be sweeter. The slices on some of the fishes were a bit rough and choppy, could be cleaner to give it that quality presentation. Lastly, the portions were too small and thin. I don’t mind bite size but have to be adult bite size not kiddo bite size or sample size. BC Dungeness crab California roll. It was okay, I would say it was quite lacking in presentation and evenly rolling it. Had a better version of this at a few other places. Local uni, Hokkaido uni, Akami, chu-toro nigiris. They were fresh and tasty. The sushi rice was nicely cooked and seasoned. Tamago. Always like house made tamago. Nice texture, nice balance of sweetness and taste with the rice.

Overall, the dining experience here was okay. It had a nice little vibe and somewhat of a simple elegance even due to its compact size.

The service here was quite applauding from all the staffs. They were very informative on the menu and the food being served, empty dishes were cleared promptly and assuring the table was cleaned at all time, plates were changed in between different courses of the meal, and our server was very professional and attentive. Lastly, all the staffs (I really mean all the staffs) said thank you and good bye when leaving. The service here really put a lot of the fine dining restaurants especially the downtown area to shame.

As for the food, they quite a nice selection of fishes here you don’t find at most Japanese restaurants. However, they are on the pricey side, definitely have room for both improvement and a bit of adjustment. The pricey side I don’t mind but it has to be on an acknowledging level, meaning it needs a good reason to justify itself. For example, the sashimis not so thin? As always I am keeping my reviews real and...